Supreme Court directs Tarun Tejpal to surrender in two weeks in rape case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed journalist Tarun Tejpal to surrender in two weeks in a 2013 rape case, turning down his plea to be exempted from custody while his appeal against conviction is pending. The order means Tejpal, the former editor of Tehelka magazine, will have to go to jail before the Supreme Court hears his appeal challenging the Bombay High Court's verdict.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Alok Aradhe said Tejpal's appeal would be listed for hearing only after he files a certificate of surrender with the Supreme Court. The deadline for filing the certificate is September 22, 2026. The court did not accept the argument that the appeal should be heard first.
The case dates back to November 2013, when a junior colleague accused Tejpal of rape inside a hotel elevator in Goa during a Tehelka event. Tejpal was arrested and subsequently released on bail. In 2021, a trial court acquitted him, holding that the prosecution had failed to establish the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The Goa government and the victim then appealed against the acquittal in the Bombay High Court.
On August 6, 2026, the High Court reversed the trial court's verdict and convicted Tejpal, sentencing him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. The High Court found the evidence credible and held that the prosecution had proved its case. Tejpal moved the Supreme Court on August 20, contesting the conviction.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State of Goa, argued that the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 make it mandatory for an appellant in a criminal case to surrender before an appeal against conviction can be listed. He submitted that unless Tejpal surrendered, the appeal should not be taken up. He, however, acknowledged that the apex court has the power to waive this requirement in exceptional circumstances, but submitted that no such exception applied here.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Tejpal, contended that the appeal should be listed first and that his client should not be compelled to surrender until the court considered the matter. On August 24, Justice Aradhe had observed that the Supreme Court could not list the appeal unless it first decided the application seeking exemption from surrender. On Tuesday, the court rejected that application and directed surrender, making it clear that the procedural requirement must be fulfilled.
Apart from Tejpal's appeal, the Supreme Court also has before it a petition from the Goa government seeking enhancement of his sentence. The government has argued that the 10-year sentence is inadequate and that the offence warrants life imprisonment.
Tejpal, who is 62, has consistently denied the charges and has claimed that he is a political victim. The case, which emerged in 2013, was among the prominent sexual assault cases in India. The Supreme Court's Tuesday order is procedural and does not assess the merits of the conviction. Once Tejpal surrenders and files the certificate, the court is expected to schedule a hearing on his appeal.
